Violation of the obligation to wear a seat belt or wear a safety helmet while driving is the third most common scoring offense in the Czech Republic. In 2019 alone, over 60,000 such cases were registered.
Last year, 7.8% of unrestrained drivers, 10.2% of unrestrained front seat passengers and 15.6% of unrestrained rear seat passengers were registered.
“In accidents, there are cases where drivers bypass the seat belt reminder by various methods – seat belt behind the seat or snapping the passenger seat belt into the driver’s seat belt buckle. Cases have also been identified where people were aware of a malfunction. “For example, the use of the belt was inconvenient for the driver, so he tried to adjust it using various methods. In many cases, these were” home improvers “, but unfortunately some products can also be purchased,” he describes. Director of the Transport Research Center (CDV) Jindřich Frič.
Every year, 80 unrestrained people die in cars on Czech roads, this was the case last year and the year before last. “Last year alone, another 146 people were seriously injured and 678 lightly injured,” calculates Besip boss Tomáš Neřold.
“It has been proven that unrestrained drivers die fourteen times more often than those restrained. Therefore, there is an obligation to wear seat belts immediately after sitting in a motor vehicle, ie before driving,” says Jiří Smetana, director of the Medical Rescue Service of the Karlovy Vary Region.
“It is necessary for not only drivers but also passengers to realize that the seat belt is still the most effective tool for passive safety. Its active use thus has a completely irreplaceable role in reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries in road accidents on Czech roads,” he adds. Neřold.
Unrestrained two-ton body
“At a speed of 50 km / h, the unrestrained person in the vehicle is hit by forces corresponding to his fall from a height of ten meters on a concrete surface. At the moment of impact, this force acting on the human body corresponds to up to 25 times its weight,” organism head of the traffic police of the Karlovy Vary region Pavel Žíha.
A person weighing 80 kg turns into a body weighing up to two tons when hitting a solid obstacle. The resulting inertial force then throws the body of the unrestrained passenger out of the seat and often the deadly consequences can no longer be prevented even by a properly activated airbag. Due to its construction, it is effective precisely in combination with fastened seat belts. Their use saves around 8,500 lives each year in EU countries.
Drivers or passengers?
According to tragic statistics, drivers are more attracted than passengers. Among the drivers who died in accidents, 23% were unrestrained, among passengers 35%
Men or women?
Women are more responsible when using belts, the proportion of unrestrained women is lower in all years than the proportion of unrestrained men. Between 2006 and 2019, 34% of men killed and 24% of women killed were not restrained. Of the severely injured, 21% of men and 15% of women were not tethered, and 9% of men and 5% of women were not tethered in the category of slightly injured persons.
Young or experienced?
Younger people drive more unrestrained. With increasing age, their share decreases – this applies with a few exceptions (people aged 55-64 and slightly injured people aged 65 and over) in all categories – people killed, severely and slightly injured.
According to the CDV, people without belts drive more on weekends. For the entire monitored period (2006 to 2019), on average, 28% of unrestrained persons were registered on working days and 38% of unrestrained persons on weekends in traffic accidents in passenger cars. 17% of severely injured unrestrained persons were registered on working days and 22% on weekends. For slightly injured persons, 6% were registered on working days and on weekends 9% of unrestrained persons.
The highest shares of unrestrained persons in fatal car accidents were recorded in the South Bohemian and Liberec regions, while the lowest shares of unrestrained persons were recorded in the capital city of Prague and in the South Moravian region.
In the automotive world, seat belts, as part of the car’s mandatory equipment, first appeared in series production on Volvo models as early as 1959. In what was then Czechoslovakia, the mandatory use of front seat belts when driving outside the village was enacted in 1967. consequences of traffic accidents.
According to the Act on Traffic on Roads, not only the driver, but every transported person is obliged to fasten his seat if the seat is equipped with seat belts.
However, there are several exceptions to the law where people do not have to be handcuffed. One concerns the crews of armed forces vehicles and the integrated rescue system. These do not have to be confined when dealing with emergencies and the use of a seat belt can prevent you from leaving the vehicle quickly. The exception also applies to driving school instructors, reversing drivers and persons less than 150 centimeters, but also over 18 years of age. With the exception of the law, the law also remembers the health reasons of drivers or transported persons. Your doctor may not recommend the use of seat belts for any reason. In this case, however, he must issue a certificate to the person and a person released from this obligation must present it to the police upon request.
Truths about (non) use of seat belts:
– If you do not fasten your seat belt, your body will continue at the same speed as the vehicle before the impact, until it hits the windshield, steering wheel or airbags (Newton’s law of inertia).
– If you do not buckle up, you endanger yourself and your passengers, you can kill them with your own body in the event of a vehicle crash.
– If you have an airbag in the vehicle, you must fasten it. The airbag is an additional safety system. If you are not restrained, a “launched” airbag can have a devastating effect on you.
– Do not transport a person smaller than 150 cm in the front seat with airbag. The airbag is designed to accommodate a person taller than 150 cm. When activated, it can cause serious facial injuries to lower persons, or worse, death by breaking a ligament.
If a child is being transported in the vehicle, then it must be placed in a child car seat on all types of roads. When choosing a car seat, it is important to make sure that it is homologated and corresponds to the age, height and weight of the child. If you buy a so-called second-hand seat, make sure that it is not damaged. In a car accident, it could quite seriously endanger the life or health of a child. Child restraint systems are designed for children smaller than 150 centimeters and weighing less than 36 kilograms.
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